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-ML-
This took me too long, to be honest. Knowing the theme, seeing this relatively easy position, I should have seen the key move earlier. Still, I did, so I am happy :). It's obvious Black wants to draw, the Bishops are gonna eat the Black King alive otherwise. That suggests the first move clearly. However, can be convert that to a draw?

<54....Rxg3> White has in fact three options here, one is certainly not recommended.

/A\
<55.Kh2? Qf2 56.Kh1 (56.Bg2 Qxg2 0-1) Rh3 0-1> errrr, don't.

/B\
Accepting the Rook is one part of the puzzle.

<55.Kxg3> can we get this to stalemate. As it is now, the Black King is stalemated. However, with the White King in use we cannot deploy a simple crazy Queen. In fact, we have to lure the White Queen, and you have to see this to see it works.

<55....Qe5! 56.Qxe5 stalemate 1/2> of course, any King move is possible but that loses the Queen and is also at most drawn for White but it is in fact lost. So that does not work, the Bishop covers the white squares perfectly. White's final option remains, and this one was annoying.

/C\
<55.Kh4> typical, because in fact Black goes an exchange up now, but White is threatening a very bad mate in one on h7. How to continue, and this took me a while. But of course, the most obvious move is:

<55....Rg4> if White goes back, 56....Rg3 repeats and a draw to follow, so White has to accept.

<56.Kxg4> now the coup de grace.

<56....Qd7!> with the King on g4, the White Queen is only needed for g7. She does so after:

<57.Qxd7 stalemate 1/2> obviously, any King move again loses to QxQ. A bit harder puzzle but in the theme so relatively easy. Time to check whether Kasparov was in fact swindled here.

SuperPatzer77: <TheaN ...<55.Kh4> typical, because in fact Black goes an exchange up now, but White is threatening a very bad mate in one on h7. How to continue, and this took me a while. But of course, the most obvious move is:

<55....Rg4> if White goes back, 56....Rg3 repeats and a draw to follow, so White has to accept.>

<TheaN> No, 55...Rg4+, 56. Kh3??? Rxe4! Black wins! So, that's why White has to capture the Black Rook at g4 to avoid losing the game with a rook down.

Everett: It would be nice if there was a stalemate symbol, instead of "stalemate." We have all these other symbols for nuance after nuance of "advantage" ex. , etc. Figured we can come up with something.

I see, when played out to the stalemate, chessgames.com puts ~~~ into the column. Thoughts?

Phony Benoni: One of the first chess magazines I every read was the December, 1962 issue of "Chess Review". In it, Walter Korn dedicated his endgame column to the stalemate, and related the story of a game played by Atkins at St. Petersburg, 1902.

You need to know that there is some European language or another in which the term in chess for "Draw" is "Patt".

Atkins was winning his game, but fell for a stalemate trap. His opponent clinched the deal by announcing, "Patt, Sir!", and thus a derogatory term was born.

I hope that's all there is to this pun. I hate to think that spelling it "Pat" is an attempt to bring in an Irish connection, since I believe McDonald is more of a Scottish name and Neil McDonald himself is English.

kevin86: Standing pat is a poker term in draw when the player decides to not draw any cards. Either he has a great hand such as a flush , where any draw would likely destroy a good hand. He can also keep his cards if he wants to bluff the opponents into thinking he has a good hand.

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